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[QUOTE="moqui, post: 848134, member: 214"]
right problem, wrong answer

Taking away Cooney was clearly Lavin's defensive strategy.  While he was able to take Cooney away, however, the defensive strategy failed.  Syracuse opened up a big lead and scored easily and efficiently.  If you really want to, any team can take any one player away in any given game, but this effort proved that SU has too many other options.  The Johnnie's didn't give Syracuse a game because they took Cooney away.

They make a run because they were able to get into the lane repeatedly in the 2nd half and either convert or get to the line.  That was not entirely Cooney's fault - he and Ennis both had their worst defensive games in a while - but JB subbed in Gbinije for Cooney at the 10 minute mark and left him in the rest of the way.  The move didn't pay immediate dividends - SJU scored 10 points on their next 6 possessions - but then the defense tightened up and they went scoreless in their next 8 possessions (and got just 3 free throws in their final 11 overall).

So, yes, Cooney was [S]the[/S] a problem.  But, no, it was not because of his offense - it was his defense.
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